I don’t think it is something much more than being a staging area for some types of operations, but then again, I am not an Airforce guy, so I don’t know how those things go.
I presume like a lot of Cold War things, it was just expedient, and not expected to be a contested area past whatever some fighter cover could handle.
I guess I am not surprised we had nukes there. I sure hope they aren’t there now.
LOL, I meant now. Back when, those “some types of operations” were “nuclear raids”.
No big deal!